Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air support, have made gains in their fight against foreign-sponsored militants in the country’s west-central and northwestern provinces of Hama and Idlib.

On Saturday, Syrian soldiers took control of Atshan village, which lies in the Suran sub-district of Hama and located 213 kilometers (132 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, following fierce skirmishes with Takfiri terrorists.

Syrian army forces are now heading toward Khan Shaykhun town in the Maarrat al-Nu’man district of Idlib Province to liberate it from the clutches of foreign-backed extremists.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Russian fighter jets conducted 64 sorties over Syria in a day, hitting 55 positions of the Daesh Takfiri militant group.

The ministry’s spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said the aerial assaults destroyed major technical and logistic support objects belonging to Daesh terrorists as well as a fortified area that housed ammunition depots.

Also on Saturday, Syrian military aircraft bombarded militant hideouts in the villages of Atshan, al-Tamanah and Tel Sakik as well as several other areas in the province of Hama, killing at least 50 Daesh terrorists.

Another 75 members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front militant group were eliminated and their pick-up trucks, equipped with heavy machine guns, were destroyed as Syrian government troops launched a barrage of mortar shells and artillery rounds at Um Haratain village, where the Takfiris had been holed up.

Syrian soldiers managed to wrest complete control of al-Bahsa Village in the al-Suqaylabiyah district of Hama Province on October 9, killing 104 terrorists and destroying seven vehicles armed with heavy machine guns and medium-caliber long-barreled guns.

Moscow began its military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations; Press TV reported.